Bill Text: IL HR0031 | 2011-2012 | 97th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Urges the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability (COGFA) to (i) competitively bid for an auditing firm to conduct an audit of the State-funded Pension and Retirement Systems, (ii) report the auditing firm's findings to the General Assembly and Governor within 1 year after the adoption of the resolution, and (iii) publish the auditing firm's findings on the COGFA website.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 2)

Status: (Failed) 2013-01-08 - Session Sine Die [HR0031 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2011-HR0031-Introduced.html

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HR0031 LRB097 07164 JDS 47266 r
HOUSE RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, The Illinois public pension systems are estimated
to have an unfunded liability of $80 billion, and the State's
contribution to those systems is expected to be $22 billion in
fiscal year 2045; and
WHEREAS, The Pew Center issued a study on state pensions,
titled "The Trillion Dollar Gap", which reported that Illinois
has the worst funded pension systems in the nation; and
WHEREAS, Over the years, the Illinois pension systems have
used questionable accounting and investment practices; and
WHEREAS, The State of Illinois is facing an unprecedented
funding shortfall in all of its pension systems and is commonly
considered the worst funded public pension systems among the 50
states; and
WHEREAS, Former Governor Rod Blagojevich was indicted for
corruption involving official actions pertaining to the
Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois; and
WHEREAS, State law provides limits on Freedom of
Information Act requests for pension data that limit the
transparency of the pension systems of the State of Illinois;

HR0031 - 2 - LRB097 07164 JDS 47266 r
and
WHEREAS, It was recently made public that the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission has opened an inquiry into
the reporting of potential pension reform savings by the
pension systems; and
WHEREAS, The inquiry has raised questions about investment
decisions, investment returns, and accounting techniques that
warrant an audit of the pension systems; therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
we urge the Commission on Government Forecasting and
Accountability to competitively bid for an auditing firm to
conduct an audit of the State Employee's Retirement System of
Illinois, the Judges Retirement System of Illinois, the General
Assembly Retirement System, the State Universities Retirement
System, and the Teachers' Retirement System of the State of
Illinois; and be it further
RESOLVED, That the firm shall look into all processes of
the systems, including examining contracts awarded, investment
decisions, investment returns, investment fees, trading
commissions, accounting techniques, and any other processes
related to the management of the funds; and be it further

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RESOLVED, That the Commission on Government Forecasting
and Accountability report within one year after the adoption of
this resolution to the General Assembly and Governor, and
publish on its website, all findings, including
recommendations on how each system can improve efficiency and
any finding of suspected corruption; and be it further
RESOLVED, That the pension systems involved fully
cooperate and turn over any materials requested by the auditing
firm; and be it further
RESOLVED, That the Commission on Government Forecasting
and Accountability begin the process of selecting an auditing
firm as soon as possible after the adoption of this resolution
so that an initial discovery audit will be made available
within 2 months to the Commission on Government Forecasting and
Accountability and the public; and be it further
RESOLVED, That the Commission on Government Forecasting
and Accountability report quarterly on the fiscal condition of
the pension systems, in particular: the current funding ratio,
as projected with and without the use of 5-year asset
smoothing; balance of assets; cash on hand; and projected
liabilities; and be it further

HR0031 - 4 - LRB097 07164 JDS 47266 r
RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
delivered to the Executive Director of the Commission on
Government Forecasting and Accountability, as well as to the
State Employees' Retirement System of Illinois, the Judges
Retirement System of Illinois, the General Assembly Retirement
System, the State Universities Retirement System, and the
Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois.